Baseload natural gas prices for August trended lower on the first day of bidweek trading, according to NGI’s Bidweek Alert. The modest price declines occurred against a backdrop of stubbornly high storage levels and lofty production levels, which have been offset only by strong summer heat in the West and Texas.

Eastern Gas South Bidweek

Despite the modest weakness seen early in the three-day bidweek trading period (July 25-27), the suffocating heat that’s penetrated areas from the Southwest over to Texas and beyond is expected to shift farther east in the coming days. The incoming heat could send temperatures soaring to the triple digits for the first time in years for some areas on the East Coast, including Baltimore and Washington, DC.

“It has not yet reached 100 in either city this year,”...